The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 557: Jiangnan is no longer misty and steamy, it is the future
"Your Majesty, those Japanese from Choshu are in such a plight! Major General Deng and his men have surrounded the outer city and fired all the incendiary bombs from the warships. The fire has spread uncontrollably.

The soldiers in Yanqing Town only need to guard a few exits. All young women coming out of the sea of fire will be captured and shipped to Southeast Asia, while all men will be stabbed to death with bayonets.

The Nanjing Imperial Envoy, who had just returned from Hagi Castle, the headquarters of the Choshu Domain, was vividly describing to Mo Zibu what he had seen.

The good thing about using eunuchs is that these people all have a slave mentality and are absolutely obedient to authority.

If Mo Zibu was sending an official to Choshu Domain, these people would definitely ask why he did this.

If you don't tell him, he will guess in his mind and then make up a reason that he thinks is more reasonable for you.

Only these eunuchs will not ask why or why, but will just tell you what you want to hear in vivid detail.

“Yes, the officers and soldiers of Yanqing Town did a good job, and the navy officers and soldiers also made contributions.

Go and inform the Five Military Commandery, and have them dispatch officers stationed in Yanqing Town and the navy to appraise these prostitutes and sell them all to Southeast Asia. The proceeds will be used to provide additional rewards to the officers and soldiers."

Mo Zibu was quite happy. He wanted to use the Japanese, especially since Japan's geographical location was very important, which was related to his future expansion in North America and the conquest of Hawaii. He could not give up.

But Mo Zibu didn't want the Japanese to get the benefits of a free ride without paying any price.

Even if they had to hitchhike and work as cattle and horses, this treatment was still much better than their half-dead state in their hometown and other ethnic groups who had no choice but to work as cattle and horses.

Now, the main suspects of militarism, mainly the Choshu clan, have basically been eliminated, and a deterrent effect has been achieved, killing two birds with one stone.

"Ryan, please make some preparations. I will transfer two regiments of the Imperial Guards and the Yaowu Army of the Beijing Camp to you, and also send two battleships and five fast warships from the East China Sea Fleet to form a new reinforcement fleet.

You will establish your headquarters in Hagi Castle, the capital of the Choshu Clan, to block the transportation lines between the rest of Japan and Kyushu Island, and eliminate all Japanese warships in the Seto Inland Sea, ensuring that we can send troops directly to Osaka at any time."

After hearing Mo Zibu's new arrangement, Reinstein, who had not had a chance to fight since the Northern Expedition, nodded excitedly.

The emperor did not allow him to go to the war in the northwest because he really could not understand the complex religious and ethnic relations there and could not make accurate identifications.

But there is no such worry when going to Japan, because Reinstein discovered at this time that although Japan is considered to be part of China, the Eastern Rome, in Europe, in fact, China's understanding of Japan is just like that.

Everyone is taking things one step at a time, so it doesn't matter if he, a German, takes charge.

"As you command, my Lord." Reinstein nodded. "Please rest assured, I will make Hagi Castle impregnable and a bridgehead for China to control Japan."

This was also Mo Zibu's plan. He would first cut off the connection between Kyushu Island and most parts of Japan, and then use immigrants like the Shimazu clan as dogs to eat up the Kyushu region.

Then, we have to wait for the great famine to break out in Japan.

When they find it difficult to take back Jiuzhou and even have to eat, these people will start to seek a way to compromise, and they will take the initiative to compromise.

Only in this way can we subdue all of them without arousing their national consciousness.

. . . .

At the same time, Tanuma Ochitomo, the son of the senior councilor Tanuma Ochiji who came secretly from Japan, finally arrived in Songjiang Prefecture.

Since he came here secretly, he was dressed like a Han Confucian scholar.

Moreover, this kind of dress was not unfamiliar to him, because Tanuma Ochi's teacher came from the most important Confucian family in Japan - the Hayashi family.

This "Lin" can be understood as the surname of a clan, but it should be understood more as a mark of working in a certain industry.

In Japan at that time, those who could be directly named Lin like the Han people must be engaged in Confucian studies based on Zhu Xi's philosophy. They were supported by the shogunate and were currently recognized by the shogunate as the orthodox Confucian school.

To put it simply, it is the orthodox Zhu Xi school - Mito Han school that tries to explain "Respect the Emperor and Expel the Barbarians" as: (Tokugawa clan) respects the (Emperor) and becomes the (Shogun) to eliminate the barbarians.

The head of the Lin family university (an official position similar to the chief academician of national studies) of this generation was Lin Jinfeng, who was originally the grandson of Makino Yasushu, the lord of the Shinano provincial domain.

According to the rules, after he became the head of Lin University, he changed his name to the Chinese-style Lin and gave up his original surname.

Tanuma Ochi looked to his left and saw someone with the same shocked expression as him. It was Matsudaira Norihira, the 15-year-old son of Matsudaira Norihira, the lord of Iwamura Domain in Mino Province.

This young man's level of Confucian knowledge is already very high. Since Lin Jinfeng, the head of the Lin family, has no children, he is very likely to be nominated as the head of the Lin family in the next generation.

This is indeed the case in history. This person inherited the position of head of Lin University, changed his name to Lin Shuzhai, and became an authority on Confucian studies in Japan, with a great influence.

He also had a famous student, Sato Issai, who was the last Confucian master in Japan and was known as the ferryman of the Meiji Restoration.

Watanabe Kazan, Sakuma Shozan, Yoshida Shoin and others were all students of Sato Issai.

This person is also extremely famous in China and has a particularly great influence. He was once regarded by conservative reformists as a beacon of hope for saving the nation.

Sato Issai was especially respected by Taizu's mentor and father-in-law Yang Changji, who considered him the last Confucian sage who had achieved the three goals of moral integrity, conduct, and words.

At this time, Lin Shuzhai was standing on the street of Songjiang Prefecture. He was even more shocked than Tanuma Yizhi.

Because the current Songjiang Prefecture is completely different from the misty Jiangnan with small bridges, flowing water and houses that he imagined.

There is not a trace of the tranquility of a farm family, nor the contented life of the elderly and children in the Confucian utopia. Instead, it is filled with the ferocity of coal, iron and textiles, a modern industry.

Looking from the Jiading Wharf, the banks of the Yangtze River are all lined with high concrete walls, behind which are said to be various small factories.

The steam from silk reeling was floating everywhere, and occasionally there were a few large chimneys spewing out scary black smoke.

What's even more terrifying is that in the area of Jiading County near the Yangtze River, the sewage flowing in the river channel is like a winding black dragon, fiercely rushing into the Yangtze River and dyeing the Yangtze River their color.

Lin Shuzhai has lived for more than ten years and has never seen sewage that is this black!
He couldn't help but ask: Hey, damn it, where are you going? Is this still Zhu Xi's hometown?

Afterwards, as soon as Lin Shuzhai and others got off the boat, they were surrounded by a large group of coachmen. They drove a four-wheeled carriage pulled by slow horses and kept soliciting business.

Among the four wheels of these carriages, the front wheels are small and the rear wheels are large. They look a little different from those in the East, but they are very comfortable to sit on.

Of course it will be comfortable, because although this carriage is copied from Europe, it incorporates more stable and better quality springs invented by Jiading Tiangong Institute through semi-archaeological and innovative methods.

Later, he received great help from the Mechanical Department of Nanjing Imperial College. The inventor was awarded the title of Imperial Craftsman, the highest award specially established by Mo Zibu for mechanical majors including carpentry.

This made the comfort of the carriage take a step forward, even without rubber tires made of vulcanized rubber, almost reaching the highest level achievable at that time.

This invention gave rise to the coachman industry ahead of time, and violently swept the sedan chair industry, which still existed and allowed women and children to ride in, into the dustbin of history.

"It's so comfortable! I never thought the upper kingdom already had such a comfortable carriage. Compared to the sedan chair we use, it's like a creation from heaven."

Tanuma Ochi's following warriors, with the feeling of country bumpkins entering the city, kept praising it.

Compared to China's sedan chair, which carries a strong sense of class, Japan's sedan chair has an additional weird and uncomfortable feeling, which is almost like being locked in a cage.

Therefore, Tanuma Ichichi did not stop the warriors from admiring him, but he himself squinted his eyes and enjoyed it.

However, what Tanuma Yizhi enjoyed most was not the comfort of the carriage, but the feeling that he could make the people of the upper country serve him for only five cents of silver.

"Thud, tug, tug, tug, tug, tug!"

Just as Tanuma Ichi was enjoying himself, a strange roar was heard. Tanuma Ichi was startled and looked back in surprise.

It turned out that a very strange carriage came on the street at some point. Well... it shouldn't be called a carriage because there was no horse in front of it.

This strangely shaped vehicle has three wheels, with two large wheels at the back and a small wheel at the front carrying a huge tripod-shaped object.

It looks...

What the hell!

Tian Numa Yizhi felt his hair stand on end. The big cauldron in front of him was actually spewing out smoke. The white water vapor and the black smoke were intertwined, which looked extremely scary.

At the same time, there was another person who kept adding something to the cauldron, and it looked like he was performing some strange ritual.

"What kind of evil demon is this!" Tanuma shouted and pulled out the wakizashi hidden at his waist.

Almost at the same time, the warriors following Tanuma Ichi also took the samurai swords hidden in the luggage. However, before they could defeat the evil spirit, they frightened the coachmen who were driving them.

One of the drivers yelled in horror, "Damn it! They're really barbarians from Southeast Asia!"

Following this loud roar, seven or eight coachmen quickly pulled out pistols of various shapes from their gray short coats.

From ancient times to the present, before being impacted by the online car-hailing industry, as the upper class of porters, those working in the taxi industry had a good income and were not so easy to mess with.

Moreover, because they have a high income and often have a large amount of cash flow, they are easily targeted by robbery and have high self-defense requirements.

As for the "Nanyang barbarians" they called them, it was because among their customers there were a large number of killers from Nanyang.

These guys were used to being rude and arrogant in Southeast Asia, and when they returned to their hometown, they couldn't change their habit of not treating outsiders as human beings.

In addition, when they arrived in Songjiang Prefecture, the two sides did not speak the same language and conflicts often arose.

The most important thing is that the Jiangnan gentry and wealthy merchant group and the Fujian and Guangdong meritorious officials and wealthy merchant group have been fighting fiercely for the right to speak.

Therefore, the middle and low-level vassal and military officers of Fujian and Guangdong in Southeast Asia had a very bad reputation in Jiangnan.

The drivers saw that Tanuma was well-dressed and had the air of a superior who gave orders, so they naturally thought they were from Southeast Asia.

Oh my god! Now it was Tanuma Ichi's turn to be embarrassed. He had never expected that this group of seemingly honest and simple coachmen in Songjiang Prefecture actually had a pistol in their hands.

Well, it's not certain whether you can hit the person with your sword, and even if you hit him, it's not certain that anything will happen. But no matter what kind of samurai you are, if you are hit by a gun, there is a high probability that you will meet Amaterasu.

What kind of magical city is this? Even the coachmen have pistols. How do you expect the warriors to get them?

But after all, he was in the highest level of Japan, and Tanuma Ichi quickly realized that China was different from Japan, and it might be his actions that scared these coachmen.

His eyes rolled around, and he immediately thought of a way to divert the awkwardness. This cunning little dwarf, holding a wakizashi, shouted at the huge cauldron that was puffing out smoke:
"Who are you, evil demon? Tell me your name!"

The warriors around him were also very smart. They reacted immediately and yelled at the strange self-propelled cauldron.

"You are such a fool!" Xia Agui was shocked. He was a small shareholder of this carriage company and had seen all kinds of scenes in the past few years, but he had never seen anyone regard this steam carriage as a demon.

Therefore, these people's strange behavior aroused his suspicion again. He was hesitating whether to report to his cousin Xia Tongzhi who was in charge of the dock, when a person he was somewhat familiar with came from a distance.

"It's Brother Agui. Hurry and send the guest to the Songjiang government office. This is a serious matter and we can't delay."

Xia Agui knew the person who came. He worked in the Jinyiwei and seemed to be in charge of Korea and Japan.

As a small shareholder of a carriage company, he knew the Jinyiwei, and they were very polite to him. That was because he was a distant relative of Xia Yunyi and Xia Wanchun, father and son, who were posthumously awarded the title of Duke of Susong.

His parents and uncles were not only responsible for cleaning the Xia Family Sanzhong Temple in Songjiang Prefecture in Jiading City, but also had permanent tax exemption for 75 acres of land.

Others were willing to recruit him as a small shareholder of the carriage business so that they could get rich together because they saw his reputation as a loyal and brave descendant.

With such an identity, it is not surprising that he knows a few people in the government. After all, the one who inherits Xia Wanchun's incense is the adopted son of Qian Daxin, the old man Qian.

All doubts were gone, so both sides laughed awkwardly and continued forward.

But at this moment, there was a crisp bang. Tanuma turned his head again and saw that the big cauldron that was puffing out smoke suddenly made a loud noise for some reason, and the thick smoke stopped billowing forward.

"Stop the fire! Stop the fire! Oh oh! The coal-eating car has stopped the fire!"

In fact, not only Japanese people like Tanuma Ochi were curious, but local people in Matsue Prefecture were also curious.

But they are people from big cities after all, so they can hold themselves back. So even though they are curious, they still act like they have seen the world and this is nothing.

However, when the steam locomotive finally made a fool of itself, they could no longer hold back. A group of people gathered around and laughed loudly.

A large group of children were jumping and dancing around the car, laughing and shouting in unison, "Stop the fire, stop the fire."

They also named this steam locomotive a coal-eating car, obviously they were very familiar with it and knew what it was.

Amidst the laughter, a fat guy was smoked into the appearance of a Kunlun slave by the black smoke from the steam engine. He coughed violently and jumped off the car, even with two streams of black smoke coming out of his nostrils.

"Fuck, what a laugh! Once I've solved this little problem and become the Master Architect, I'll definitely come to Songjiang Wharf and laugh my ass off for three days!"

The fat guy was covered in coal dust, and seemed to be broken by the laughter of these people. He didn't even bother to wipe his face. He pointed at the people around him and shouted loudly with coal spewing from his nostrils.

Hearing the fat man cursing, an old man with almost no hair left in the crowd walked out with a haughty look on his face, holding a few sparse goatees.

"Since ancient times, there have been human and animal power, wind power, and water power, but I have never heard of a creature that eats coal and exhales water vapor being able to move everything with the same force as an ox or a horse.

In the late Han Dynasty, there was a story that Zhuge Liang made wooden oxen and flowing horses, but that was just the fabricated words of a novelist. How can it be trusted?
Moreover, human power and animal power are the power of all spirits, wind power and water power are the power of all things. Your coal-consuming cart relies on coal to move, which is neither spiritual nor material. Isn't it against the way of heaven?

If you go against the will of heaven, you will never succeed! "

The fat man was already frustrated by the continuous failure of the steam engine, and now he was scolded like this. His eyes suddenly turned red. He didn't care about the tradition of respecting the old and loving the young. He ran over and pointed at the old student's nose and started scolding him.

"You old white-haired dog, you toothless dog, do you understand what Heaven's Way is? If you understood Heaven's Way, how could you have spent half your life studying the classics and not even have the chance to work for the Tartars?"

Mist grass!

These words were too hurtful, and the old student's defense was immediately broken. "No matter what, I failed the exam because I didn't learn the skills well enough. You are going against the will of heaven by eating coal carts, so you will definitely not succeed!"

"What if I become successful?" The fat man clenched his fists so hard that they made a creaking sound, as if he was going to go berserk in the next second.

"What if you can't do it?" The old student was not willing to be outdone.

"If it hadn't been for Cheng, I would have eaten three pounds of shit right here at Jiading Wharf!"

Damn, are you playing so hard?

The old scholar was also a little scared. If the fat man really succeeded, then these three pounds of shit would not only be smelly but even if it was not smelly, it would be too much for his old body to eat.

But he had just pretended to be able to quote from classics, and he had already put on an act, and now he couldn't get back on his feet.

Don't be afraid. It's not certain whether this fat guy can succeed. Even if he does, he won't be able to find me in such a vast sea of people.

The old student gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, if you can't do it, then I will also eat three pounds of shit in Jiading Port!"

After hearing this, everyone was very excited and burst into laughter.

Amidst the laughter, a tall and strong man, who looked like an adult but spoke like a child, also clapped and laughed.

"Okay! But we can't set a time limit. Let's set it to one year. At this time next year, everyone here should come. I'll provide travel expenses, food, and lodging. Let's see who makes a fool of themselves."

Damn it, who is this to be so mean!
The old student, who had made up his mind that he would not fulfill his promise even if the fat man succeeded, looked up with great frustration and wanted to curse but did not say it out loud.

There was no reason, the old scholar just felt that if he said this, he would probably suffer a terrible fate.

Unlike the old boy who only sensed the danger, Tanuma knew that he really saw the danger.

Not to mention the aura emanating from that young man, which is even more intimidating than that of the former shogun Tokugawa Ieharu when he was young.

As someone who has been in the Japanese upper echelons for many years, Tanuma Ichi took a quick glance and saw at least six secret sentries around.

In particular, the captain of the imperial guards who came to receive them fixed his eyes directly on the coachmen with pistols.

The coachman seemed to know something as well. He didn't even dare to move his hands and froze in awkward position.

"I heard that the emperor's eldest son is exactly this age." The present Matsudaira Chengheng, the future Lin Shusai, suddenly whispered in Tanuma Yizhi's ear.

Tanuma felt numb all over. This was too much of a coincidence. He met a real God as soon as he arrived in Middle-earth?

(End of this chapter)